Parry Aftab is an Internet privacy and security lawyer. She is the founder of the Internet safety organization WiredSafety, StopCyberbullying and the consulting firm, WiredTrust.

Career

Aftab was appointed by UNESCO's Director General Federico Mayor as the chief of the U.S. National Action Committee for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's World Citizen's Committee on Protecting Innocence in Danger group in 1999 to address online sexual exploitation of children. She became a member of the Board of Directors for the non-profit, TRUSTe in 2003. In 2005, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

issued a resolution that recognized her efforts to combat

cyberbullying Cyberbullying (cyberharassment or online bullying) is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Since the 2000s, it has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased u ...

as Executive Director of StopCyberbullying and WiredSafety. Aftab was "the Privacy Lawyer" columnist for Information Week Magazine for many years. Her organization, WiredSafety, became a member of Facebook's Safety Advisory Board in 2009 and in April, Aftab appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' for its

town hall meeting Town hall meetings, also referred to as town halls or town hall forums, are a way for local and national politicians to meet with their constituents either to hear from them on topics of interest or to discuss specific upcoming legislation or ...

on sexting. In 2010 she received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and was one of 28 members in the Online Safety and Technology Working Group of the

National Telecommunications and Information Administration The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is a bureau of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the president's principal adviser on telecommunications policies pertaining to the United States' ec ...

. She was one of 29 members of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, run by Harvard's Berkman Center. In July 2011, Aftab was the victim swatting incident at her home when the police were contacted with claims that her house was the site of murders and hostages. Aftab was on vacation at the time and a local police swat team investigated the false claims. She was the co-recipient of the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

's Child Recovery Award in 2011. Aftab was the organizer for a 2015 anti-cyberbullying event in Ireland, and has been a member of the advisory boards for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's A Thin Line, Fair Play,

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

Online and the

Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements or PSAs on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-gover ...

. Her clients have included

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. In 2016 Parry Aftab founded Cybersafety India and the StopCyberbullying and sextortion and morphing prevention initiatives for India. She resides in both the US and Canada.

Publications

*''Child Abuse on the Internet. Ending the Silence'', Carlos A. Arnaldo, Ed., Chapter 21: "The Technical Response: Blocking, Filtering and Rating the Internet", pp. 135–140 (2001) *''Inocencia en Peligro : Conviva con sus Hijos y Protéjalos Cuando Naveguen por Internet'' (2001) *''The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace'' (1999) *''Parents Guide to the Internet: And How to Protect Your Children in Cyberspace'' (1997) *''Parent's Guide to the Internet - UK edition'' (2000) *''Ciberbullying, Guia Practica - Spain/Espana'' (2004) *''INTERNET con los menores riesgos. Guía práctica para madres y padres - Spain/Espana'' (2003)

References

External links

Aftab's web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aftab, Parry 1961 births American activists American lawyers Computer law activists Computer law scholars Cyberbullying Living people American women non-fiction writers American writers of Iranian descent